Roux Blog

January 2013 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issued the revised Vapor Intrusion Technical Guidance Manual and revised the vapor intrusion screening levels.

Click here to review the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Site Remediation Program Vapor Intrusion Technical Guidelines

The chemicals below, have been dropped from the list of substances for vapor screening due to the absence of inhalation toxicity information.

• 1, 3-dichlorobenzene,
• 1, 2-dichloroethene (cis),
• 1, 2-dichloroethene (total),
• 2-chlorotoluene,
• and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA)

The screening levels for several substances (such as tetrachloroethene or PCE) are higher than the 2007 screening levels (good news for dry cleaning sites). This may result in situations in which cases currently classified as an immediate environmental concern (IEC) or vapor concern (VC) may be reclassified based on the new screening levels.

On the other hand, the new screening levels for some substances are lower than the 2007 screening levels. For example, the screening levels for ethylbenzene are significantly lower. This may result in reclassifying some cases as an IEC or VC.

Key to the changes is the time frame for assessing conditions at your site relative to the revised VI screening levels.

• For ongoing sites and sites with approved remedial action work plans (RAWPs) for groundwater, the assessment must be completed by April 16, 2013.
• For sites with restricted use remedial action outcomes (RAOs) or restricted use no further action (NFA) determinations, the assessment needs to be completed during the next biennial certification.

Roux Associates is uniquely positioned to assist you with your VI compliance needs. Our LSRPs are stakeholders on several committees with the NJDEP on guidance documents and regulations with valuable insights into the NJDEP. In addition one of our LSRP's served on the VI Screening Level Implementation Committee with the NJDEP.

To learn more about the NJDEP New Vapor Intrusion Standards contact one of Roux Associates LSRP's or click on the below link to request more information.

• Bill Silverstein
• Michael Gonshor
• Kathi Stetser
• Greg Martin
• Thomas Buggey
• Bill Gilchrist

On the clear crisp morning of Wednesday, December 12th, the ULI group met at Building 103 in the Presidio of San Francisco, located next door to the Walt Disney Family Museum and in the famous Montgomery Street army barracks. The group spent some time getting to know each other over coffee and pastries. Promptly at 8:30am, our presenters began with a historic overview of the Montgomery Street barracks. The barracks were originally built in 1895 to house soldiers and have since been changed to accommodate several different uses.

Here we begin our tour of the retrofit and renovation of the building for its newest use as the new Presidio Trust headquarters. Jeff Gherardini from Plant Construction Company, Paul Littler and Zander Sivyer from Holmes Culley, and Robert Wallace from the Presidio Trust talked to the group about the retrofit process. We watched slides of the construction which showed the use of fiber-reinforced polymers instead of the traditional concrete shear walls or steel frames, the construction highlight of building 103. This was applied over main posts in order not to lose square footage and era detailing, while reinforcing the buildings structure for earthquake protection. The result is a LEED-Gold certification and a Preservation Design Award from the California Preservation Foundation.

After talks about the cost of the project (a cool $ 10 Million) and of the different retrofits and uses of building 103 compared to the other office buildings and the Walt Disney Family Museum, the ULI group split into two tour groups lead by Presidio’s Robert Wallace and by Bruce Laynon. We were shown the preserved and exposed support beams, the beautifully integrated modern glass conference room and the era refurbished stair case and bannisters. The entrance was magnificent with modern light fixtures. The attics, which were never used in the past, are now extra office spaces with original exposed support beams. It’s amazing what a good artistic eye can bring to a building over 100 years old.

We ended the tour on the building’s front porch where Robert Wallace showed us the Main Parade grounds and the future vision of the Presidio to be mixed use, historically preserved buildings.

Authored by: Sabrina Ma, Roux Associates, Inc., San Francisco